


Being Human

by lunadesangre



Series: Little Miracles [7]
Category: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Oz (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Twins, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-27 04:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/658238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunadesangre/pseuds/lunadesangre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ryan becomes a fucking humanitarian. (And Alvarez notices.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Being Human

“Yo, O’Reily,” Alvarez says, looking straight at him. “It’s two to two. You gonna break the tie?”

And Ross, ever the smartass annoying fuck: “Yeah, break the tie.” Closing in behind Ryan with Adebisi, one on each side, an united front facing Alvarez. So sure of Ryan’s answer.

Unlike Ryan.

Oh, he knows what he _wants_ to say. He also knows what he _should_ say, for his own good, to keep Adebisi and Ross on his side (for now, at least). And what would be more profitable for him: see what Alvarez has to offer. Except he knows Alvarez isn’t the bargaining type – or at least not for the life of some hacks. The only thing he would give Ryan is a few seconds of distraction from this fucking mess and one of those stony looks he’s so fond of bestowing on people that piss him off. Fuck, what’s the bastard doing trying to _save some hacks_ , Ryan has no idea.

Except that’s a lie, Ryan gets it exactly, and that’s the problem. Sure, they’ll all be in deeper shit with a dead hostage, but they’re going to get hell anyway. It’s only a matter of time before fucking Glynn or fucking Devlin sends in the SWAT team or some other trigger-happy cowboys who’ll shoot at everything that moves, and whether there’s one dead hostage or not isn’t going to make a difference. Or much of it. For them, anyway. It’ll make a difference from a moral point of view, and that is actually the point Alvarez and fucking Said are defending: that even if they’re criminals, they’re not animals. They can do _the right thing_. Which perfectly serves Said’s politics, but _Alvarez?_ Ryan is pretty sure Alvarez doesn’t have a political bone in his body. Which can only mean Alvarez actually believes in that _doing the right thing_ bullshit even more that Said does. The crazy fuck.

If only Ryan wasn’t seriously (stupidly!) considering it as well. It’s all Brian’s fault, really – Ryan was fine being a selfish bastard until Brian came along and _believed in him_. And Brian is a stupid, naive crazy fuck – but still, now, there’s a little part of Ryan that wants to be worthy. That wants to prove he’s good enough – better than the rest of those fucks. And apparently, for some reason, there’s the same little something alive in Alvarez as well.

Oh fuck it, it’s not like it’ll be that difficult, he just needs to put it in a way that Adebisi will see as profitable. Ross, too. Piece of cake, actually: no one, not even Adebisi, likes to hear the words _death sentence_.

But Ryan knows, those fucks out there will never send them a doctor, and they’ll have to keep those fucking hacks then and risk them croaking on their hands, or they’ll have no jizz at all anymore. And while he’s pretty sure Said certainly wouldn't mind a few deaths to add more weight to his cause, Ryan...isn’t actually that cold. He might have beaten the crap out of Armstrong (he fucking deserved it!), but he doesn’t want him dead – which is how that fucker is going to end up if they ask for a doctor. No, the only thing to do is drop him, and whichever other hack is bleeding to death, out of there and let the fuckers on the other side worry about them. There’s other hostages anyway.

He spins some more words around the idea, makes them guess it – like it’s their own fucking idea (actually making them _agree with each other_ , which should win him a Nobel Peace Prize), and no one sees the manipulation.

Well, almost no one: a corner of Alvarez’s mouth lifts up slightly, almost imperceptibly so. Oh yeah, the fucker caught it. Ryan’ll have to remember that: Alvarez’s got a lot more brains than anyone gives him credit for.

He looks at Ryan right after he and his boys have dropped the two bleeding hacks on the other side of the gate and Ryan’s given the guards outside their list of demands – and for a few seconds, amidst all this chaos, there’s some kind of... _shift_ , some sort of wordless understanding passing between them. Ryan doesn’t know what the fuck it is exactly – Alvarez blinks and it’s over, but somehow Ryan feels a tiny bit less alone. It doesn’t change a fucking thing in any profitable way, but...it’s something to remember.


End file.
